Another
army marched against him, and was similarly defeated; and the citizens
of Prague, finding that no satisfactory terms could be made with the
emperor, recalled Ziska, and entered into alliance with him. The
one-eyed patriot was now lord of the land, all Bohemia being at his beck
and call.
Meanwhile Sigismund, the emperor, was slowly gathering his forces to
invade the rebellious land. The reign of cruelty continued, each side
treating its prisoners barbarously. The Imperialists branded theirs with
a cup, the Hussites theirs with a cross, on their foreheads. The
citizens of Breslau joined those of Prague, and emulated them by
flinging their councillors out of the town-house windows. In return the
German miners of Kuttenberg threw sixteen hundred Hussites down the
mines. Such is religious war, the very climax of cruelty.
In June, 1420, the threatened invasion came. Sigismund led an army, one
hundred thousand strong, into the revolted land, fulminating vengeance
as he marched. He reached Prague and entered the castle of Wisherad,
which commanded it.
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